Day 16: Morocco closes Beijing Games with silver medal
2008-08-24
Morocco was the only Maghreb country to compete on the 16th and final day of the Beijing Olympics. For fans back home, elite runner Jaouad Gharib's silver medal in the marathon event made the wait worthwhile.
By Mawassi Lahcen for Magharebia in Casablanca – 24/08/08
 [Mawassi Lahcen] Morocco's Jaouad Gharib beat out the Ethiopians to take the silver medal in the marathon event on Sunday. |
Moroccan marathon runner Jaouad Gharib thrilled Moroccans on Sunday (August 24th) by taking second place and thus the silver medal in the marathon event that closed out the Beijing Olympics.
Moroccans enjoyed an evening following the 42km-race, which began at half past midnight, Moroccan time. The event was Morocco's last hope to achieve another medal in the Games. Although the race lasted over two hours, it was thrilling on account of the sharp competition among the six top African runners. Two Kenyans, two Ethiopians, one Eritrean and Morocco's Gharib led the pack from the beginning of the race.
The Ethiopians and Kenyans jumped into the lead and took turns setting the pace, hoping to keep the elite Moroccan runner at a distance sufficient to keep him out of competition and away from the medals. Gharib persevered, however, and managed to stick with the group, keeping the pace by adopting a lurking strategy that involved staying in fourth or fifth position throughout the race.
During the second half, some of the leading racers tired and began to lag behind and drop out one after the other. The competition was down to Kenya's Samuel Kamau Wansiru and Morocco's Gharib. Wansiru snuck to the forefront and snatched the gold medal with a new Olympic record of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 32 seconds. Gharib came in second place for the silver, with a time of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 16 seconds. The bronze medal went to Ethiopia's Tsegay Kebede, came up from behind, taking advantage of the exhaustion of the other leading athletes. His time was 2 hours, 10 minutes.
With Gharib's silver medal, Morocco scored seven additional points in the overall athletics competition, thus improving its ranking from 35th to 28th, with a total score of 16 points. Hasna Benhassi scored six points with her bronze medal in the women's 800m race and Abdalaati Iguider scored three points for the Moroccans by taking sixth place in the men's 1,500m race.
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aboufiras Posted 2008-08-24
One bronze medal and one silver for a population of 30 million people!? At the very least this points to a lack of ambition. We should hope for more out of our young people. It is time that our leaders be held accountable. Sports are just as much a strategic matter as national defence. It is time to entrust this to competent men!
boras Posted 2008-08-25
Jaouad Gharib showed tremendous determination and spirit! An absolutely facinating race and brutal under those harsh conditions. Jaouad Gharib you show true Moroccan spirit!
المهندس/حسن البهكلي Posted 2008-08-25
Praise be to God. Congratulations to Morocco and Arabs for the victory of the Moroccan Olympic champion Jawad Gharib in the Marathon race of 42 km. Now Arab champions have their place among African champions from Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea and very soon Sudanese. With this silver medal by the Moroccan Jawad Gharib, the total number medals for Arabs are seven (a gold for Bahrain for the first time since it participated in the Olympics in Los Angeles 1984, a gold medal for Tunisia in 40 years, a silver and bronze medals for Algeria, a silver and Bronze for Morocco and a bronze for Egypt). It is observed that Arabs didn’t get many medals in Beijing 2008 in comparison with 13 medals in Athens 2004. However, the big number of Arab participants who qualified to Beijing 2008 in comparison with their number in Athena 2004 is appreciated. It is also observed that Arab champions in Athena 2004 were eliminated from the preliminary rounds in comparison with Beijing 2008. The big number of participants in Beijing 2008 will be rewarded in London 2012, God willing. We wish success to all Arabs in world events. A study and analysis should be carried out of the causes of this drop. A plan should also be adopted from now to London 2012 and afterwards. There should be a participation to get medals and some participants should gain experience and be prepared to the phase after London 2012 as it was the case for the equitation team of Saudi Arabia. There was an experienced cavalier (Ramzi Dehami) and four young men who are being prepared to London 2012 and afterwards for two years. If we want medals, we must prepare the champions. Preparing an Olympic champion equals the cost of a team. So support is important. Companies should sponsor some champions to serve society. God knows the intentions of people. Eng. Hasan Al-Bahkali.
Rachid Posted 2008-08-25
Morocco’s results in the 2008 Olympic Games were the worst they have been since 1984. We need to draw a lesson from this. We are not not lacking high-level cadre like Said Aouita who discovered athletes and got them started so that they could win some nice medals. Ever since, there has been nothing. What is the current national team — Daouda and company — doing? Nothing! Or, at most, ruining the motivation of our athletes, who are leaving to get naturalised in other countries and win medals like Ramzi did. It is time to fix this situation and call upon our former champions like Aouita, Boutayeb, Sekkah and so on!
hamza Posted 2009-10-03
Jawad Gharib is the best runner in the world.
maroi Posted 2009-10-12
This is not bad.
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